In the age of the quick and the easy, I propose the long and the difficult. A direct attack on sound bites, the non-profit organization called The Readers of Homer that I have founded, aims to rekindle some of the need for and recapture some of the potency of masterful language that is deeply considered and long attended to.

Our method is simple. We read The Iliad or The Odyssey continuously and smoothly, in an edited-down-to-ten-hours form, all night long. We do not offer theater, or perfomance even. The reading is a group participation that borders on ritual, steeped, as it is, in respect for the long history of great poetry. It is an effort for participants, and in the end, an achievement. The readers are the audience. They have been given passages in advance and, one by one, they build the power of the experience as they carry the narrative, in their own individual ways, throughout the long, dark hours of the night.

There are only two rules for readers: They may not comment, and they may not apologize. Only Homer comments. And how. Distant from us as Homer is, he understands the travails of our world, and has much to say about violence and peace, about imagination and living. No poet has ever rendered the humanity of the enemy more poignantly and no other masterpiece is based on such an astonishing impartiality.

I believe it is important for people to read poetry aloud. It is better to read aloud to others. It places participants in the continuity of tradition. They learn from one another to care more about the words, the music of the words, their meanings, and quickly feel themselves part of something both
ancient and enduring, beautiful and relevant.

We hope you will join our mailing list and participate with us at our next event. - Kathryn Hohlwein, President & Founder

BIBLIOTHECA ALEXANDRINA
October 21, 2008

SECOND ANNUAL READING ON CHIOS, GREECE
July 17, 2008